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In honor of Shark Week it’s finally time to post my favorite in-studio video yet! Kids and parents beware: this drawing is not for the faint of heart! The animals drawn in this scene are a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and a juvenile elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris).

Noctiluca, Part One It was the middle of the night, a few days after my 23rd birthday, and I’d just been woken up by a tap on my shoulder. I was aboard a wooden tall ship, the schooner Adventuress on the Puget Sound, and it was my turn for the “anchor watch” shift. I grabbed my flashlight and

Designing a book cover is one of those assignments that illustration teachers love to give and illustration students hate to do. Another new cover for GREAT EXPECTATIONS? Really? Okay… well… there’s a convict, a boy, Miss Havisham… did I even finish reading this in high school? As redundant as cover

I love getting things in the mail! (Well, most things anyway.) But yesterday I scored not one but two delivery home runs: two copies of the July 2014 School Library Journal featuring Neighborhood Sharks and my first (starred!) review, and—even cooler!!—my first real copies of my first real book as a

I love making models. Any excuse to build one will do. Sometimes, it’s really tough to draw something straight out of my imagination, and seeing it in real life can make all the difference. A shark model to get the fins right? Terrific. A clay mock-up of the West children to nail that cave lighting?

It’s finally time to release my very first time-lapse video! Hurray! Set to the tune of the shark-filled waters of the Gulf of the Farallones, this video captures the making of final interior art for the last page spread in Neighborhood Sharks. As you watch, be sure to listen for the sounds of sea l

On the first leg of my flight to Kenya, I sat next to a 76-year-old psychotherapist-turned-art dealer. We started talking about our respective work, and I eventually pulled out an early copy of NEIGHBORHOOD SHARKS for him to look at. He quietly flipped through each of the pages, carefully studying t

Oh man, I miss Kenya already. The elephants, the adventure, the people, the contrasts, the staggering numbers of wildlife in seemingly every direction… all of it was amazing. People keep asking me, “How was your trip?!” and I’ve finally got a short answer that works: say, “It was awesome!” pull out

You guys, I’m going to Kenya tomorrow!! Why is there still so much packing to do?! As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m traveling to Africa to research my next picture book about elephants. I’m so excited! It’s been a great couple of months preparing for this trip. I’ve been pla

Not only is my debut book, NEIGHBORHOOD SHARKS, coming out this fall from Roaring Brook Press/David Macaulay Studio, but just last week Publisher’s Weekly announced that Roaring Brook will also be publishing both of my next two non-fiction books. The first will be on African elephants, and the secon